Michigan Air Force crews flew nuclear bombs around during Cold War

OSCODA, MI -- The nuclear bombs in Oscoda were perhaps the worst kept secret at Wurtsmith Air Force Base. The former base in Iosco County, along the shores of Van Etten Lake, housed nuclear-armed B-52 bombers as part of the United State Strategic Air Command (SAC) atomic deterrent force during the Cold War. "Most of us that worked here were aware of it, but we didn't say anything," said Don Gauvreau, chairman of the

, which occupies part of the former base hangars. "It was nothing you'd discuss with just anybody around." Gauvreau, 77, was assigned to Wurtsmith in the 1960s and 1970s after the SAC reconfigured the base as part of the Department of Defense program to disperse its bomber squadrons across a large number of bases to guard against the whole fleet being decimated by a Russian sneak attack. The SAC built more base housing and extended the runways of the former Army airfield to accommodate the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers that soon became a fixture in the skies above Oscoda and Lake Huron. Wurtsmith, which closed in 1993 and today is at the

, had been mostly occupied by Air Force fighter jet squadrons until the SAC took over in 1958. The base was established in 1923 as Loud-Reames Aviation Field and initially used as a gunnery range for U.S. Army planes needing a place to practice away from the populated areas surrounding Selfridge Air Force Base near Mount Clemens. It was renamed Camp Skeel in 1924 and Oscoda Army Airfield in 1942. For a few months in 1943 during World War II, the base was home of the 100th Pursuit Squadron, the famous black fighter unit called the "Black Panthers." In 1953, the Air Force named the base after Maj. Gen. Paul Bernard Wurtsmith, a South Pacific war hero who died Sept. 13, 1946 when the B-25 training flight her was on crashed on Cold Mountain near Asheville, N.C. The base was home to the 379th Heavy Bombardment Wing, which moved from Homestead Air Force Base in Florida to Wurtsmith in 1961. During its SAC years, the base was an integral part of the U.S. ready alert nuclear strike force and planes from the base came and went on regular missions. The base always maintained several nuclear-armed planes ready to deploy immediately.

A Michigan DEQ map of Wurtsmith Air Force Base.

The base provided KC-135 tankers and crews for the Vietnam War from 1965 to 1975 and bomber crews from 1970 to 1975. "They made a lot of noise and rattled your bones," said Gauvreau. "It was quite an experience to watch them take off." On Oct. 11, 1988, a KC-135 refueling tanker crashed at Wurtsmith while landing during a training flight. Six people died and another 10 were injured. During Operation Desert Storm in 1990 and 1991, ten B-52 bombers from Wurtsmith deployed to Saudi Arabia and struck Iraqi Republican Guard targets. Gauvreau said the 379th bomb wing crews were among the most active during the Persian Gulf war. The first Gulf War provided a temporary reprieve from closure at Wurtsmith, which was deemed unnecessary at the end of the Cold War. The last B-52, named the "Old Crow Express," flew out of Wurtsmith on Dec. 15, 1992. The base formally closed on June 30, 1993. The local economy was hard hit by the base closure. Gauvreau, who returned to Oscoda after retiring as a master sergeant in 1980, said the town is quieter now. During the base operation years, the community was more active and the school population was much larger. But the end of military operations did not mean the base has sat empty. Much of the 7-square mile complex has been gradually turned over to the Oscoda Airport Authority for reuse as an industrial park and airfield. The base has been partially redeveloped and is now occupied by residences and businesses. During its 70 years in Oscoda, the Air Force had built 240 commercial buildings, 1,325 homes and eight, three-story barracks.

through a painstaking redevelopment process. The redevelopment includes about 740 households in a village association, plus some senior condominiums. Other base ground occupants include a dance academy, library, medical center, sport fields, churches, manufacturers like Oscoda Plastics and the salvage and repair hangars for Kalitta Air, a cargo airline. There's about 1,700 people working on the base today, which is served by municipal water from the Huron Shores Regional Utility Authority. "It's a very successful reuse of the base," said Ann Richards, Oscoda Township community development director. The runways are used by the